The Curious Little Monkey
by WinnieTherPooh
Summary: Fitzsimmons have a baby. Jemma and Leo might disagree on some things, but loving her is not one of them. Rated T for safety as the story continues.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thanks for checking this out! Please follow and review!**

"I think we should name her George."

"Fitz!" Jemma said, "We're not going to name a little girl George. Why in the world would we name her George?"

"Because she's going to be a curious little monkey." Fitz promptly responded. "Isn't that right?" He asked the tiny bundle in Jemma's arms. "What did you want to call her?"

"I don't know." Jemma said, "I thought maybe Mackenzie, but I don't want to offend Mack."

"Mack won't mind." Fitz said. "He'd be proud that we named her after him. Wouldn't he, Georgie?"

"Oh, Fitz." Jemma said, her eyes sparkling with laughter. "We can name our son George."

"Life changes fast, Jemma." Fitz said. "I call brain trauma."

"You can't call brain trauma when we're _naming_ our _child_!" Jemma said.

Fitz grinned cheekily. "Brain trauma."

"I am not naming our baby girl George, Fitz, that is ridiculous." Jemma protested. "Don't give me those puppy dog eyes, Fitz!"

"Name her whatever you like." Fitz said, shrugging his shoulders. "I can always nickname her."

There was a charged silence for a few minutes. "Georgia Mackenzie Fitzsimmons." Jemma said. "Georgia, but you can call her George or Georgie."

"And Mackenzie for Mack. Jemma, you're a genius. And I know that little Georgia is going to be just like her mum." Fitz said, kissing Jemma's cheek.

"Here, Fitz. You haven't held her yet." Jemma said. "Here."

"No, no." Fitz said, "I'm perfectly happy here. It's fine for me just to look at the two most beautiful girls in the world."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I'll try to update more frequently.**

"Fitz-" Jemma asked suddenly. They were lying on their bed, Fitz's arm around Jemma's shoulder, and Kenzie between them. "Fitz, why won't you hold Kenzie?" It wasn't just that he wouldn't hold her. That was the most expressive of his symptoms. He was darker, angrier since she had been born. She only saw him smile around the baby, and he wouldn't hold her.

"What?" Fitz asked, "I've held her."

"No, I don't think you have." Jemma said, "You keeping finding reasons not to hold her, you always refuse when I ask. No, refuse isn't the right word. You just don't."

Fitz avoided her gaze, staring suddenly at the picture of outer space they kept hanging on the wall. His eyes shifted again and he looked at the baby. He gently traced her wispy curls with his left hand, but said nothing.

Jemma watched him, the solution dawning on her as she saw his fingers shake just the tiniest bit. "It's your hands, Fitz," she whispered, "Isn't it?"

Fitz finally made eye contact with her, his eyes full of hurt, embarrassment, anger, and glassy with tears. "Yeah."

There was a pause.

"It's been three years, Jemma. I have my mind back- most of it, anyway. But my hands are still shaking. Not all the time, but enough. Sometimes I just lost control and I'll drop whatever I'm carrying, and I don't want to hurt her."

"Fitz-" Jemma began. He cut her off.

"It's been three years. Ward's been out of the picture for years. And I thought-I really thought that I had forgiven him and moved on, but he just showed up again to mess up my life. I'd almost forgiven him for betraying us, betraying me, for damaging my brain and making my life hell, but now it's all back. All the anger, everything that scares me about myself, and I'm scared now. I'm afraid of dropping her when I hold her." His voice dropped. "I'm afraid of my anger, and that I'll lose control and hurt her."

"Sit up." Jemma ordered. Fitz obeyed. "Now, put your arms just so."

"Jemma-" Fitz began to complain.

"Shut up." Jemma said, gently picking up Kenzie. "We're not going to live like this anymore." She placed the baby into Fitz's arms.

He held her awkwardly, tensely at first, before his body finally relaxed.

"You're safe here. I'm here, you're on a bed, nothing will go wrong." Jemma said, "And I know you're scared of hurting her, but we'll find a solution. You won't hurt her, Fitz. You'd never hurt her. Let's live, Fitz. Let's stop being scared of what could happen and just live with our little girl."

Fitz was barely listening, caught in the rapture of holding his Georgie for the first time.

"And over there is Daisy." Fitz said, pointing towards the Inhuman. "Can you say Daisy?"

"I doubt she can say anything yet." Daisy said, coming towards them. "But I appreciate the effort, Kenzie, yes I do." She bent over to look at the girl. "I think she's asleep, Fitz."

Fitz looked down at his chest. "Yeah. I should find Jemma-she knows how to get it off."

"I can probably help you figure it out." Daisy said as they walked back to the Fitzsimmons apartment. "I mean, I don't have a PhD or anything, but I think I can figure out a baby carrier."

"Just don't drop her." Fitz said, nervously. "That would be bad."

"FITZ!" Daisy said, then realized where his comment had come from. "I'll be very careful. You've done great, Fitz. Jemma told me a little of what you went through after she was born, and why she got you the hands free carrier. You've really been spectacular."

"Yeah, well-" Fitz said, "I just want little Georgie to know that her daddy loves her. It's the worst feeling in the world to wonder about that, and I want my daughter to be different."

Daisy removed the sleeping baby from Fitz's chest and laid her in her crib. "Any kid who has parents that love each other like you and Jemma is lucky. I can't wait to watch her grow up."

"Yeah." Fitz said as they left the room, "Me too."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I've been dealing with a severe case of writer's block. Please review! (and note that I've changed my username to WinnieTherPooh)**

Daisy pushed open the door of the lab. "Fitz? Coulson needs-" Her voice trailed off as she noticed the mess in the lab. Papers stirred lazily on the floor from the rush of air when the door swung open. "Fitz?" She took a cautious step inside the door, pushing it shut behind her. "Fitz, are you in here?"

There was silence. Daisy bent down and began to collect some of the strewn papers. On some of them she could recognize Fitz's meticulous handwriting-on others, it wobbled and ran all over the page, letters getting wider and out of control. "Fitz?" She called out again, "Jemma? Jemma are you in here?" She put down the stack of papers and moved again towards the back of the lab. "Fitz?"

"I'm here." His voice, coming from the floor, startled her. She spun around. Fitz slumped against one of the cabinets on the back wall, head in his hands.

"Fitz, what's going on?" She slid to her knees next to him. "Do you need me to call Jemma?"

"No." His sharp voice startled her. "Don't call her. I'll be fine."

"I don't like it when you lie to me, Fitz." Daisy said, getting comfortable beside him. "Talk."

"Another headache." Fitz rubbed the back of his neck. The exhaustion on his face scared Daisy. She thought she could spot a trace of tears on his cheeks. "For the past two days. Can't think, can't write."

"What does Jemma think you're doing?" Daisy asked, "Does she know?"

Fitz shook his head slightly. "I hid it yesterday, but today was the worst it's ever been. She just knows I'm working in the lab."

"Okay." Daisy looked around, "Okay. What can I get you? Aspirin? Water?"

Fitz shook his head. "I've made a mess, haven''t I?"

"Don't worry about it." Daisy said, "I'll clean up your papers and you can organize them again when you feel better." They sat in silence for a few minutes. "Aren't your meds supposed to prevent headaches?"

Fitz shrugged. "Supposed to." The silence continued.

"Have you taken them?" Daisy asked, "Should I get them?"

"I don't remember." Fitz shrugged again.

"Where are they? I'll get them for you." Daisy said, standing up.

"I don't know if they'll help." Fitz said, "They don't always." He closed his eyes. "Top left hand drawer on my desk."

Daisy opened the drawer and began to rummage through it until she found the orange bottle. "It says to take it with food."

"Water bottle on the desk, granola bar in the next drawer." Fitz said, "But I don't know if it'll help."

"Optimism, Fitz." Daisy said, passing the medication and food down to Fitz and taking her spot next to him again. "What else can I do?"  
"Can you promise me something?" Fitz asked, his voice low and intense. "I know that most promises aren't worth anything, but can you try?"

"Of course, Fitz." Daisy said, "What do you need me to do?"

"Look out for them. If something happens to me, make sure they're all right." Fitz whispered.

"Fitz, what are you talking about?" Daisy asked, "Nothing is going to happen."

"That's what I thought a few years ago." Fitz rubbed the back of his neck again, "And here I am, sitting on the floor of a lab that I wrecked. I don't trust my brain, Daisy. I have headaches. I get angry. My hands are all but useless."

"Fitz-" Daisy protested.

Fitz pressed on, his voice close to breaking. "I don't know when I could lose everything, Daisy. I need you to look out for them. Keep them safe from me when I go."

"That's morbid, Fitz." Daisy said, "Don't assume that the worst is going to happen."

"I don't take things for granted anymore." Fitz said shortly, "And I don't count on things to happen a certain way." He closed his eyes again. "I just need to know that somebody will look out for them, if it's you, or Mack, I don't care, I just need to be sure."

Daisy sighed. "Okay, Fitz. You didn't need to make me promise that. I would have done it anyway." She stood up. "Do you want me to call Jemma now?"

"Yeah." Fitz said, "Yeah, do that."

Daisy pulled out her phone. "Fitz? Don't hide away like this again, okay?"

"Okay." Fitz said, "Just look out for them. Don't let me hurt them."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm sorry for the long pause between chapters, and for how short this is. Hopefully I will be updating soon with a longer chapter. For clarification, her name is Georgia Mackenzie, but everybody except Fitz calls her Kenzie. He calls her Georgia or Georgie.**

"Come on, Kenzie. You can do it." Fitz reached up to turn on the camera, and then lay down on the floor again, wiggling the monkey toy in front of Kenzie. "Come to Daddy, Kenzie."

Jemma laughed from the bed. "You turn on the camera every night, Fitz, and she still hasn't done it yet. What do you do with all the footage?"

"I save it." Fitz said, "Even if she doesn't crawl, it's still memories." He grinned up at Jemma. "I'll want them later."

"It's just going to take up space on the camera card." Jemma said, "And then when you actually want to video her crawling for the first time, you'll be out of storage and you won't be able to take the video. At least upload them to a computer, or something."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do that." Fitz said, focusing on Kenzie. "All right, Kenzie, crawl to Dada."

The baby gurgled. "Dada."

Fitz looked up. "Did you hear that, Jemma? She just said dada."

Jemma laughed, "I heard her, Fitz."

"See, that's why I keep the camera on." Fitz picked up Kenzie, laughing with her. "Aren't you daddy's smart little monkey? Smart little monkey, you. Only seven months old and you can already say dada. Can you say mummy?"

Kenzie reached out and clawed Fitz's face with soft hands. "Dada."

"Aren't you the curious little monkey, little Georgie you." Fitz tickled her a little, and Kenzie laughed again.

"Don't get her riled up now, Fitz." Jemma said, "It's almost her bedtime."

"I'll take her to bed." Fitz volunteered immediately.

"Thank you, Fitz. I do have a phone call with one of the other labs." Jemma smiled gratefully at him. "It'll only be a little while."

"Don't worry about it, we'll be fine. Won't we, Georgia Mackenzie?" Fitz balanced Kenzie on his hip, bouncing her slightly. "Come on, little monkey, let's go to bed." He stopped at the bedroom door, turning back to grab the tripod with his other hand.

Jemma watched them leave with tears in her eyes.

* * *

"This is George. See look, it's a little monkey just like you. He even has the same name as you, Georgie." Fitz pointed at the monkey. Kenzie's baby fist hit the page. "Where were we- this is George. He lives in Africa. Do you know where Africa is, monkey? I'll show you tomorrow. Africa is a great big continent, with the lions and the hippos and the monkeys." Jemma smiled and moved past the doorway. Fitz looked up at her with the wide happy grin that Georgia had brought into their apartment. When she came back from her phone call and subsequent chat with Daisy, Fitz was fast asleep in the chair, Georgia close against his chest.


End file.
